NC House, Senate leaders negotiating COVID-19 relief package

Thursday

The House wants to spend $1.7 billion; the Senate wants to spend $1.35 billion. And there are other differences.

The North Carolina House and Senate expect to vote Friday on the state’s COVID-19 relief package, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, said shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday.

The House voted 117-1 on Thursday afternoon for a $1.7 billion package called the Pandemic Response Act. The Senate on Wednesday night unanimously approved a $1.35 billion plan called the COVID-19 Recovery Act.

Now, leaders in the House and Senate are negotiating a compromise. They had hoped to have it ready late Thursday.

"Members, for your planning purposes, the discussions are ongoing, but we’re not going to be able to reach a vote this evening," Moore told the House shortly after 4 p.m. He described the negotiations as "moving along well."

The legislation comes as at least 10,509 people as of Thursday morning had been confirmed to have the virus in North Carolina, along with 378 deaths. About 900,000 North Carolinians have applied for unemployment insurance benefits because they have lost work because of the partial shutdown of the economy, a lawmaker said.

Both the House and Senate want to help schools, hospitals, local governments, state agencies and others who this spring have been battered by the pandemic and partial shutdown of the economy. But they have disagreements on the amounts and on some policy matters.

For example, the House proposal puts $75 million into a bridge loan program to help small businesses. The Senate plan has $125 million for the bridge loans.

Rep. Michael Speciale, a Republican from New Bern, cast the only "no" vote in the House. He could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

On Tuesday, when this lawmaking session began, Speciale participated in a Reopen NC protest and wore a Revolutionary War-era costume, according to posts on social media. The Reopen NC group wants the state to end its pandemic restrictions, saying they are an infringement of people’s constitutional rights.

Speciale also had filed an amendment to the House package on Thursday to delete a passage on alcohol sales. The provision would allow bars, restaurants and other outlets that sell liquor-based alcoholic beverages to temporarily sell them in sealed containers along with to-go orders of food. This would end when the crisis ends.

State law for the most part confines off-premises sales of liquor to government-owned liquor stores.

But no amendments were permitted, Moore told the House when another lawmaker argued against the alcohol sales.

The Senate version of the relief package has no alcohol sales provision.

The House is scheduled to convene at 11 a.m. Friday and the Senate, at 9 a.m. Links for the general public to watch and listen to their proceedings online are at ncleg.gov.

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@fayobserver.com and 910-261-4710.